Not sure what some folks are thinking when they set out on the highway? I was cruising home on the I 40 between Monterey and Cookeville TN the other day doing around 68mph. A fairly nice truck pulling a decent trailer flies by me hauling a wheeled SS, no big deal except there was not 1 tie down, nothing. What has happened to common sense, why do others feel the need to risk others lives? I could care less what someone does on their own, but when involving others I really wish some could take 1 minute and pull their head out of their a**. :Banghead:Banghead:Banghead
My ol man used to haul unchained D8's half off the trailer bumping them into the J barrier to push em back in the trailer. Pre stressed hanging 20' off the back of a straight truck doing a wheelie over the bumps of the highway.
30 years ago a small self employed excavation contractor argued that chains don't hold machines on. A crawler gets plenty good traction on a wooden trailer deck. He would put the blade against the I beam at the front of the deck, and lock the brake on his John Deere 350. He ran around that way for years. One day I came upon his dozer on its side in a brook. Last weekend Mrs B and I went to Maine. On 95 I was driving 75 as most of the traffic. I was passed by a car doing about 85. On his roof was a queen sized box spring. The mattress was tied near the middle with two strands of twine, one passing through the front doors, the other through the back doors. Wind force had stretched the twine so the front of the mattress was 2' higher than the rear. This idiot seemed unaware it was there. I dropped my speed wanting reaction time when this thing flew off. I took an exit a few miles later. I'm guessing his actions had to kill somebody. Willie
Its crazy what some fools will do on todays highways at 70,80+mph. Willie B; yup I've seen a few of those bed haulers motoring down the highway. ya have to wonder what shape the bed is in when they get to where they're going, or if it even makes it.
Back when I lived in a area with a large inner city population, it was common to see around the end of the month, a large, US made four door sedan, with a stack of mattresses on top held down by an arm sticking out each window. My trucks can always be identified by the variety of tie down hooks, latches, eyelets, ropes, and other securing devices. In our county, we even have to tie down our garbage on the way to the "convenience center" Howard
I know guys that never chain anything down, I like to be on the side of safety myself, rather have too many chains then none.
I have this photo in my showtime thread, but it's just too good not to share again. Backhoe bucket hooked over the front of the trailer...no chains and headed for the highway.
That pic is still a classic JNB! I love the tag on the front of the backhoe.. I saw the same thing this week. Nice GMC HD with new trailer and rubber tire skid on the trailer with not one tie down. How can people be that careless, stupid and have no disregard for other people on the road?
I've seen in not so many years, a transition I consider huge. Years after my birth (in 1956) The first tractor backhoe loader was introduced. By the time I remember, smaller jobs were being taken over by TLBs Big cellar holes, and highway construction continued to be performed by dozers, or track loaders. The house I sit in now built in 1981 had no hoe type digging until the power line was installed. The Drott bucket predated, for the most part the excavators. An international 150 (1.5 cu yd) IH spent a week digging for my small house. The local IH dealer had a Farmall M C 1940 with trip loader, and primitive hoe. The toothless hoe was able to lift its small bucket full of sand. The lotion of liberating a big rock would have been silly. My father hired it with operator to dig a drywell for mother's new automatic washer in maybe 1964. After a day or more they gave up. The drywell was ultimately dug by hand. Mid sixties, a local bought a new Case 530? Construction King. He had more work than he could handle. He had a single axle dump truck, if I remember, an IH I'd guess 2200 LBS gross, gas. The standard transport was to hang the front bucket over the truck tailgate, lift the front wheels off the ground. I've never done it, I bet cornering is imperfect. A good friend tried it later and smoked the transmission of his TLB. Rules evolve, new ones are the result of stupidity. This crap was once OK!
Willie, you and I were born the same year. At the first excavation company I worked at after high school (mid 70's), IH 100 track loaders with 4n1's were the norm for digging pools. We used to load them up aluminum ramps into the back of 10-wheeler dumps. No tie downs of any kind. Besides the IH 100's, the company had a couple of 125's, 175's (TL's all had 4n1's), TD7's, TD15's and a couple scrapers and blades. They also had a few backhoes and skip loaders as well. Not an excavator in sight on any of the jobs.
I think a large sector of the population is born without the slightest clue about the laws of physics. Concepts like momentum, wind resistance, leverage, centrifugal force and gravity they do not comprehend. Worse yet, they think they do.
National grid tried that, they launched a JCB wheeled machine off a trailer with one non-employee fatality.
I fully agree with you. Kids get sent to school and only get programed by folks, most of whom have never existed outside of a school or had to think for themselves. Schools need to go back to teaching kids how to think for themselves, and reason, not just programing them to somebodies ideology.
In 1953 a 21 year old excavator from Wilton CT bought a farm in VT as a vacation property. Charlie was a real hard worker. He built quite a company in CT. Eventually his much younger brother moved to VT, on the farm, and continued in Charlie's footsteps. They were very big on IH 175s. They must have had 8 or more, a TD15, and a TD25. There was one IH 150. Most of these had Drott buckets. In skilled hands these things are amazing! They also had two Bucyrus Erie cable shovels, and a truck mounted cable shovel. Watching Charlie's son load with a cable shovel is awe inspiring, not quite as fast as a modern super sized wheel loader, but very fast. Maybe it was 1970 when the first backhoe arrived. The first excavator I ever saw was in the aftermath of a flood in 1973 or 1979, I can't remember which flood. There were a number of big government contracts for stream dredging. A different local contractor bought two John Deeres, a 690, and a 790.
See, there, right there, bring back the jungle-gym sitting on the pad of 3/4 stone, lots of lessons to learn right there. Kids learn fast!
Just last Monday i got caught in a holdup on I20, it turned out to be a mini-ex in the 3 ton range laying on it side in the left two lanes. There were skid marks from the trailer swaying badly and no signs of any chains or tie downs. It was being pulled by a utility body pickup with a small worn out looking tagalong trailer. Expensive lesson, did not involve any other vehicles thankfully.
If your driveing skills are capable of throwing a piece of equipment off a trailer all the tiedown will do is add the trailer to the wreck. But the law is the law.
I'm not buying it. A 50 ton excavator could break chains in a wreck, but keeping it in place on the trailer won't involve all that much tension, and might prevent a wreck. Willie
A 50 ton trailer only weighs 10 tons So splain to me how you are going to break the chains.
I agree - bring it all back. When it was time for the training wheels to come off, they came off and you adjusted quickly or had the scars to show for it. All the time without a helmet or pads. We were taught "cause and effect".
The ten ton trailer suddenly stops when it hits an immovable object. The 50 ton excavator isn't willing to stop all that suddenly, it keeps moving for a fraction of a second. A loud noise, and carnage ensues.
And I repeat The chains change nothing If you throw a piece of equipment off a trailer all the chains do is add the trailer to the wreck. If the trailer hits an imoveable object the load is going to hit it also chains or no chains. But laws are laws so you chain the trailer to the excavator.
I have seen a D5g Cat and 450h JD lost off trailers by 2 separate competitors in our area, both went around relatively gentle corners too fast. Chains or better driving would have easily prevented both.
I was thinking what about wet/icy trailer decks, wait, those don't apply in Texas Dozer on a frozen trailer deck, heck a gust of wind could blow it off the side.
I assume your talking about Charlie Abbot?
What's easier to flip, a 6K# mini ex that's 5.5' wide or a mini-ex and trailer that weighs 8K# and is 8' wide? Chains can help in some situations, it's not just about "the law."
Charlie Abbot t . You know him? He's kind of a local celebrity. Health is failing these days, he's a good man.
Stick any machine with muddy or wet tracks on a trailer deck thats wet or icy and you'll have a recipe for disaster without chains.
I bet you don't believe in seat belts on the highway either. A load secured won't cause a wreck. A load unsecured might. Once we start to talk about wreck in the present tense, the chains may not serve any purpose. Every pothole offers an opportunity for a machine wider than the trailer to wiggle a bit to the side. It isn't many potholes before balance is a concern.
Yeah, actually the chains change almost everything. It takes two seperate objects, one with a high CG and one with a low CG and averages them, it also adds the hauled item's weight to the tires traction and grip so yeah, making two separate items into one changes a lot, just the reason it needs to be tight tight.
I like the logic.
JNB; that photo is classic Yep; common sense is gone. SAD
You really don't believe this do you? Driving skills could be fine until the road/circumstance changes, as others mentioned slippery trailer, road conditions, fool that cuts in front of you etc.... I will agree if you drive into a cement barrier then yeah your correct but there are a lot of little variables that come into play where chaining down the load could save a life. Even the wheeled SS I mentioned would be hard to move because of the drive system, BUT it is man made so it is very possible to not be a perfect locking system. Tracked machines on a trailer are quite stable, BUT once again anything could happen. I don't agree with a lot of laws, but chaining down a load is not only the law it is the smart thing to do.
I couldn't help but think of this thread today. A friend of mine was hauling his mini-ex, on the interstate, when an 18 wheeler driver with his head up his ass, decided to change lanes, while he was right beside my friend. Hard braking, and a sudden swerve avoided a collision, but the end result was my fiend's truck facing north, in the southbound lanes. (Actually, on the southbound shoulder.) Damage was limited to the trailer's fender and three sections of guardrail. The machine ended up closer to one side of the trailer than the other, and needed to be re-positioned and re-secured, but the chains kept it on the trailer. The chains not only kept the excavator from being part of the wreck, they very well might've kept somebody's family from becoming part of the wreck too. Lots of laws are laws because they're written in blood...
Entirely the wrong move when hauling a 100,000 lbs excavator Proper move is to pull both buttons and mash the footvalve to the floor. Swerving is just going to put you in the wreck on your side
Maybe when you are rolling with 100k lbs, but if I am in a 1 ton I am moving towards the median, no way no how you're going to stop the truck that fast.
The anti-compounding valve is going to work against you, service brakes are the way to go as the system will steal air to release the parking brakes at the same time as it applies the service brakes.
You should study and learn about air brakes before you coment
Enlighten me! so there is no such device?
This might not be the best done video but it does explain how the anti-compounding valve system works: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmrP_BxMfOI Not my video but the first one I found., And Fast_st, I know you knew this already, just backing you up a little!
even on a rig with an anti-compounding valve, if you hop in for your license air brake check and touch the brakes with the maxi's applied, you fail, done. over even if you call it out. Now older stuff, meh, would rather have some control.
You are absolutely right, if you pull the brake knobs, then hit the foot pedal, you actually have less braking power, not more. the first air from the foot valve goes to release the parking brakes, then, and only then, does air go to apply the service brakes. If the anti-compounding valve is removed, when you apply both chambers, you damage your foundation brakes. This does NOT help. Truck drivers have been telling other truck drivers to pull the brake knobs in an emergency for years, leaving it to the mechanics who understand how they work to correct this dangerous misinformation.
Me to digger . Pulled truck & trailer in to Home Depot to load up Kitchen cabinets , counter top , floor , & sink . Now I didn't even bid on this job and next thing I know we are loading the trailer with about 20 boxes of different size loaded with god knows what for the kitchen remodel . By the time we got it all tied down used all the ratchet straps & rope . Pretty much a Beverly Hillbilly's moment going home . LOL 4 chains & binders will secure any truck or piece of yellow iron we have to haul ..... Kitchen was a different story .
When you are going into a wreak you pull the button and apply the footvalve and Johnson bar. The anticompound valve dosnt allow the park brakes to set so nothing happens from pulling the button. If something happens to the application pressure the spring brakes apply no input from the driver necessary.
If you are rolling hopefully the spring brakes are already released
It is a balance valve the same force is applied to the slack adjuster either from the spring or the service brake diaphragm.
No sense of arguing. Loads do slide off of trailers. That's the point of tying them down. Has nothing to do with what happens in an accident but more toward preventing an accident. One of my sons worked for a company that was having a mold transported that tipped the scales at close to 15 tons. The driver didn't tie it down because he thought it wouldn't go anyplace being steel sitting on a wood deck flatbed. No injuries but he lost it on a curve, slide right off the side of the trailer. Back in the late 80's a drive in KY lost a stack of crushed cars that were improperly tied down. They fell onto a car the driver was passing and killed 5 people. Couple of years ago a guy who worked for a landscaping company in the Twin Cities lost a paving stone on the interstate right in front of a cop. He got ticketed. The following year he lost another one. This one bounced up and went through a windshield and killed someone. He was tried and convicted on negligent homicide and was sentenced to 15-20 years. I don't care how many times you haven't tied something down, or how many years you have been hauling stuff not tied down, YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO ENDANGER the general population, much less my wife, my kids or my grandkids because you are lazy. Rick
I'm tying down my baby dozer today and hoping for an incident free trip with not even a spilled soda in my lap! I half cheat and split a 20' chain with 4 load binders, slack in the middle, have to remember to bring the tires to get up over the steel beavertail .
I split my chains like that all the time. No problems yet!
We hear more hearsay about trucking rules than facts. I'm told that Authorities will fine you for less than four individual chains, 5 if it has a bucket. One guy claims over center binders are no longer allowed.
FMCSA rules are clearly printed in the green book and available online. Basically: Under 1000 lbs and 5ft in length, one tie down. Over 5ft or 1000lbs, at least two tide downs. For bulk loads, one tie down every 10 feet. Your tie down working load limit must equal at least 50% of the weight of the object you are tying down. If the tie down goes from one side of the trailer, over object, and to the other side of the trailer, you get the full WLL (indirect tie down). If your tie down goes from one side of the trailer to the object, you get 50% of the WLL (direct tie down). If you are hauling a vehicle over 10,000 lbs, you must use at least 4 tie downs, preferably at each corner. More tie downs are needed if your 4 tie downs do not equal 50% of the weight of the vehicle. Buckets and shovels have to be lowered and have a separate tie down. You can use any kind of chain you want. Unmarked chains default to grade 30. Unmarked straps default to 1000 lbs/inch of width. Any kind of binder is fine, but every chain has to have a binder or someway to tighten it. It's really not that complicated.
The green paperback copy is 600 plus pages if I remember right and it contradicts itself in many places. Before I retired, after our equipment manager got a ticket with a 3/4 ton company pick-up pulling a 3,000 LB trailer, anyone with a company truck was required to take a DOT class. It was taught by a DOT inspector supervisor here in Minnesota. He pointed out many differences in chain-down rules in the book. He also said that when contradictory information is found the most stringent rule applies.
We needed that 600 page green book when securing the kitchen set .
idc chain down laws or no chain down laws I always do a 4 pt tie down and run a chain over the boom or attachment. Wet muddy decks can be very slick. Friday I had a close call with an ex100 at work loading it onto a 20 ton trailer once I got onto the deck I slid off the trailer sideways luckly I swung landing on the counter weight . I lifted my self off the trailer and pulled the trailer out from under the machine. 1st time for me as i am only 24 years old but it can happen to anyone right? I had my fair share of sticky situations but many more to come.
Then again other jobs are simple . Haul in truck with rear end gear damage . Two 5/8 " chains take care of it with couple safety chains off the boom of the 750 Holmes . HeavyEquipmentForums HeavyEquipmentForums
750 with a skilled operator could really work some magic.
Yeah fast_st , heavy iron & trucks tend to stay put once you chain them . Use correct size chain & related hardware and put the peddle to the metal . Where I have the most trouble is securing a light load on a trailer like loose 2X4 lumber ,500 pound lawn mower is a pain as well . Highway is all good but turn off on to a rough rock road with trailer & load bouncing around tends to loosen things up a bit . I use more tie down points on the lawn mower than the dozer . LOL !
Hey bud. No offense but learn how to load a machine. I don't care what the truck driver says but I won't load a machine on an un-level trailer. If the trailer is level, it's all on you. I've loaded many machines on wet, muddy, frozen and snow packed decks. Flat is good. Don't do it otherwise. It's your life on the line. Be smart, not brave.
Absolutely correct, these folks that have the mentality of a minute saved will get the job done better are FOOLS. There is only 1 way to haul a load, and that would be the safest way possible. I'll 2nd that
Check out the 2:50 mark. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Lil5bIHkvA Rick
not my 1st rodeo trailer was level
not my 1st rodeo it can happen to any 1 even on level ground. The trailer was level when this happened .
This was too good not to post it. I live on a farm in west MN. A state highway runs through the farm with 40 acres on the north side and 160 on the south side. A county deputy stopped a guy about 100 feet from the end of the drive. Pickup with a small single axle utility trailer with a lawn tractor on it. I saw it while at the end of the drive mowing grass on the sides of the driveway. I recognized the cop as one that I know and waited by the end of the drive. When the cop was done he backed up the 100 or so feet and stopped to say hi. He nailed the guy for speeding but also wrote him up for an unsecure load (not a warning). He told me the guy was pretty mad but had tie down straps in his pickup. He got mouthy with the cop which is why the cop wrote him up for not having the mower tied down. The owner told the cop "I set the parking brake". Cop said the speeding ticket 71 in a 60 is going to cost him about 125 and the unsecured load about 750. The cop did take pictures and has footage on the dash cam of him putting straps on it. SO it's 50-50 is the guy just pays it or fights it. To me kinda funny that while this thread is running this guy gets caught within sight of my house. Rick
If you are speeding and caught dead to rights - rule of thumb just take the ticket and go on. Unsecured load for a lawnmower...he must've really pissed that deputy off.
Or if you get lucky like I was one Sunday many years ago. Was coming home from breakfast with family and got stopped in the village by the local cop. I was riding my Sportster with the sidecar. Cop spent a few minutes complaining that he could not get time off that summer to attend a motorcycle rally up north and also talking about my ride. Then at the end he says, "Better slow down a bit, you were going 42 in a 30 zone!" But, yes, you are 99% of the time going to get much better deal if you treat the officer with some respect. Probably really pissed off the guy as the ticket for unsecured load was more than the mower was worth. Bet that cop had a good laugh over coffee and doughnuts with his friends!
Not really, MN has started to enforce tie down laws to a certain extent on non commercial vehicles. About 4 years ago the MN state police DOT enforcement cops got a guy hauling tree limbs, noncommercial from his own property after a storm when they were doing roadside inspections for an unsecured load. They were either bored or the guy messed with em. Pretty hefty fine for stuff like that. It's a cash cow for the state, county and local governments. Rick
Well in a way I can understand, some of the loads have seen being carried by private individuals scares the heck out of me when I come up behind them riding my motorcycle. Just in shear numbers alone there are probably 100 times more lawnmowers or trucks hauling trash and brush on the road than those carrying D6 Cat dozers.So the chance of getting killed by one of those is many times more than some big machine. Several years back a neighbor was killed by a truck tire that fell out the back of a truck while he was driving down the highway and he was in a car not on a motorcycle.
And then there is this.....
The other thing Minnesota is doing is the DOT is set up on weekends again stopping people going to there cabins or where ever hauling there toys behind the business truck pulling painted up with advertising trailers. Full DOT inspection and looking for .02 compliance on the alcohol. They have been in town twice already this summer. They have one officer on the hiway flagging them into the hockey ring parking lot and about 6 other officials are waiting. Its amazing how many pickups they find with offroad fuel in them when they stick the tanks and check. I have a hard time feeing bad for those folks.
I think that'd need two straps minimum. I love seeing the lowboy hauling a Tonka dump truck and held with 4 little straps.
There is a wayside rest off of 210 about a mile west of my place that MNDOT sets up at. They get a couple of trucks before word gets out then they get bored. I too have no sympathy for the guys burning off road getting caught. Last one I knew of the fine was 750 plus they made him get it towed to a shop that would drain the tank and fill it with on road. The owner was madder than all get out! The tow plus the "hazmat disposal" fees were not cheap. LOL I did see just that a few years ago a couple of days before Christmas on I94 just east of Fargo ND. 50 foot or so flat bed with a Tonka dump truck tied down in the middle of the bed as I was passing. Almost wrecked I was laughing so hard. I've wondered sense then if some little boy didn't wake up on Christmas morning to look out a window and see that. Rick
Drivers breaking the law deserve the ticket. My friend was fined heavily in the middle of a snow storm. He had tail lights, license plates, and required name, and weight ratings covered with snow. He did contest the fines, and the judge reduced them, but would not eliminate them. Willie
A ticket for snow on his tag during a snowstorm? I'm all for keeping things safe but there comes a point when it's simply about control and picking people's pockets for their hard earned money.
IMO, this is just another one of those revenue making laws, off road VS road fuel. If it was really about being "environmentally friendly" then off road would no longer exist. It's funny how a farm tractor working a field(right next to an interstate) can run off road fuel all day, but the dump truck running 5 miles down the road gets a ticket. Wasting tax payer $$$$$ to pay seven government employees just to issue Johnnybobby a ticket for off road fuel use is a huge waste of time and money. But then again our powers to be have been feeding Charlie Manson 3 squares a day for 50+ years now. Yep priorities seem to be alive and on tract :idontgetit
"Disposal fee" wonder where it gets disposed to? Burning off road fuel....... there must be a place for these hardened criminals, maybe we should reopen Alcatraz(as a prison) Now lets get out there and make it mandatory for all on road gassers(motorcycles, cars, trucks, vans, etc..) to use no less then 15% ethanol or have it tested and make them get fines and pay for a "disposal fee". After all the guberment needs that big $$$$ revenue.
Completely agree, I have had many police officers as friends over the years and everyone of them said, "I can stop anyone at anytime and find a law somewhere that they are breaking!" Their point being is that, there are so many BS laws out there that no matter what, if one wants to they could find away to basically harass another.
It is illegal to run Offroad fuel because you are not paying road taxes on it, not because of sulfur content. In our area it is the same as On road but has dye added.
Same here, it all about the highway tax. No highway tax for off road fuel. Here it's generally 20 cents cheaper for off road fuel.
The road tax on fuel has nothing to do with the envirionment. It was instated to pay for road repair and inprovement. Farm use does not use the road. Off course over the years the government stole the gas and fuel tax to the general fund and let the roads go to Sh*t anyway.
maddog dont give the idiots any ideas , or we will paymore
True. Now all the fuel is low sulfur the only difference between road and off-road fuel is the dye. That wasn't the case years ago.
So can Europeans run off road in their tractors that they use to tow their excavators down the highway? The price difference here for on road and off road is almost $.50 a gallon.
Up here in this country almost every shop of any size has an EPA approved waste oil furnace. I would bet it wound up in the storage tank that feeds it. So they charge the fee for what amounts to a little paper work to certify that the tank was drained then they burn it legally to heat the shop in the winter along with waste oil. Use no less then 15% ethanol or have it tested and make them get fines and pay for a "disposal fee"? Why on earth would you do that? mileage will drop for the simple reason that Gas has a higher BTU output than ethanol which would cause you to burn more fuel to get the same results. Real funny part of ethanol is they built a plant not too far from me not 10 years ago THAT USES COAL as a fuel source to make that stuff. Rick
One of my customers hauls his skid steer in his dump trailer unchained. He says it ain't coming out. I told him what about when the trailer tires are facing up instead of on the ground..
Yup, same stuff here too. The fuel haulers add dye to it with an injection system when they fill their tankers. Should note though, that up here, "F" plated (Farm & Fish) vehicles ARE allowed to run dyed gas/diesel on the road. Andrew
You are correct it is about the tax. I Just don't really care if billybob is running off road in his truck. I know that probably is not the proper guberment way to look at it but I'm sick of all these lame D*&^ taxes being given to politicians just so they can line their pockets!
So my next question is it being sold twice? I hope you realize I was being sarcastic. Yep, suppose to save the planet by using more resources
I would have to disagree with your point, seen many farmers using off road on the highway, and no not for farm chores. exactly my feelings. I don't understand why some get so bent out of shape when they hear about another using off road fuel. Maybe they like paying taxes for nothing in return?
Wasn't it originally high sulfur was consider off road, and the reason for off or on road diesel was to slowly start the conversion to ULSD?
The use of ethanol as motor fuel is really nothing more than a massive transfer of wealth from the worker (us) to agribusiness (them) and of course the Bush/Cheney friendly oil companies... Howard
I may be wrong but around here I was under the impression that in the past, on road diesel was clear and off road was dyed, but the fuel was otherwise identical, and had a fairly high sulfur content which aided the lubricating quality of the fuel. The difference was using #2 heating oil, which had an even higher sulfur content. I remember reading a brochure for Cat equipment back in the 70's that said their engines were designed for #2 and there was no need to use the more expensive diesel fuel. Now here in Ontario all diesel fuel is ultra low sulfer content and the only difference is the dye. Got pulled over a couple of years ago and they dipped the tank in my p/u. Glad I had never put colored fuel in that truck as the fines and assessed back road tax would be very high. Officer was very courteous, said there are only a few officers to check fuel for the whole province. I never thought they would stop me in a p/u but apparently it was because I had a 100 g transfer tank and a pump which caught their interest.
In my area, the difference is 7 cents per gallon difference, on the off-road I pay sales tax of 9.5%, on the on-road, I pay the road use tax of 5 cents a gallon. Not highly significant for my use! Howard
Its 40 cents a gallon difference at home and still not worth it.
That's interesting that EPA mandated ethanol use was mandated BEFORE Bush/Cheney. But we all know it was their fault. Their fault that King George just didn't grant the US independence without a fight. Their fault that we fought them again in 1812. Their fault again that the Civil War broke out. Their fault again that we got involved in WWI. Their fault the stock market crashed in 1929. Their fault again that welfare started while Roosevelt was in office. Their fault the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. Their fault that North Korea attacked the south. Viet Nam was their fault too I guess. I guess they started the EPA and OSHA too. Yep all their fault! You'd have to drive a lot of miles to pay for using off road on road is caught! Rick
My fuel dealer is a crotchety old SOB. He's the biggest property owner in Manchester, unlike Abe Lincoln, he grew up in a 1 room tar paper shack. He's no encyclopedia, but he's plenty smart enough to be rich. I asked him last winter about diesel fuel. His answer was that #2 home heating fuel, and summer off road diesel come from the same tank, and truck. In winter off road is cut with kerosene, adding cost, and reducing power. On road is certified to be meeting a lower level of sulfur. My now deceased sister ran the office for his biggest competitor. Her take was several years ago, that on road fuel had 5% fewer BTUs than off road. Does this mean less power, or more consumption? I don't know. I'd guess you have to turn up injector pressure in old engines to match horsepower. New computer controlled injection systems are a mystery to me. I believe that either you need more money, or less power with on road before factoring tax. Willie
If anyone needs a reason to use tie downs: Driver of black pickup with trailer lost a recliner, cause injury in two other vehicles and one fatality. Driver of black pickup fled the scene is currently be sought after. http://www.wxii12.com/article/crash-closes-us-421-near-lewisville/10296261 Furniture can be deadly.
Back 'In the Day' 1970's a local contractor had a cash deal with a local builder to go out to his farm and dig a pond over a weekend. Now mind you the rules then were different, NO oversize loads After dusk or before dawn (allowed 1/2 hour each end) and NO oversize on weekends. Well seems the contractor looking to earn some quick cash sent out the boys with either a 950 or 960 rubber tire and a D7D dozer. Scales were generally open on the weekends so they took to county roads, NO signs NO special lighting at2am to get to the site, the Rubber tire arrived a little after 4 but high tailed it as soon as unloaded. Seems some thirty miles away one of the TWO hold down chains at the rear or the 7 let go on a curve. It slid sideways off the trailer down into a ravine tearing out a MASS of brush mud and small trees rolling over coming to rest Upright. The crew got it running, used the second Undamaged trailer to reload it and hauled into the site but used the asphalt road without . Worked it two days solid with sod and crap hanging from the ROPS, stack bent over and a few shoes showing a bit of stress. Had forever used Two small chains just to hold the machines on their trailers, that all changed after that to four on the back two at front 1/2" chains WITH ratchet binders. Saw that machine for five years, remained beat up as a reminder to the crews. As to the damage, the County Sheriff and SHP NEVER did find that cause, did end up with some fine new cars in Both Houses for the officers to ride in and the SAME contractor got a deal to 'Repair the Damage to the ditch bank'!! I suspect a little politics involved.
The one time I tried to sneak a few blocks with my load not tied, I creeped thru a gutter and dropped a ton of rebar on the street. Never again. There's a lowboy that runs around this area, when he is empty, he has a toy loader or dump truck strapped to the middle of it. My bro didn't believe me until he saw him a year ago. I can't find the picture....
I personally saw a wreck happen. A deck over trailer was being used to pull an asphalt roller behind a tractor truck. They were turning left at a red light and went through the light at about 20 miles an hour. It was hard to see when driving but you could tell it when out on foot, the road was a five lane road and the lanes were sloped towards the outside which caused the trailer to lean slightly. Due to the trailer lean, high center of gravity and slightly higher than normal turning speed, and improper chain placement on the roller allowed it to slide across the trailer deck. They had two chains across the roller going all the way from side to side. It was a great chain job to keep the roller from lifting off the deck but not so much so to prevent it from sliding sideways. The chains let it move and once they bound tight they broke the trailer frame. The chains were hooked on to the edge of the Channel main frame. Roller was a medium sized unit and was about a 20 to 25k roller. The chain hooks broke prefect little pieces out of the frame in little V shaped breaks when the roller slapped into them and bound them tight. The roller continued right off the side of the deck and onto the payment and landed on its side. They had the road blocked for a good long while trying to get the trailer away and then trying to get it back on something big enough to haul it. The Rops was bent over... It put some large holes in the road. This taught me to NEVER clip your chains onto the frame rail. Always loop and hook them back to themselves. And using 4 chains is MUCH better than 2...
Trailers with tailgates keep mowers from rolling off the back, don't ask how I know. I used to have an employee who used my motorcycle to get to the job site and could then move tractors to the next job and haul the bike with him. One summer we were fighting rain and one day it just got old so I told him I would take him home, he could change clothes and when it stopped we could go back to work. I had a rack on the side of my trailer made to hold a bike with a couple ropes made for the purpose. It was raining so hard I got in a hurry and put one rope on. Got to his house and he gets out and says "where's the bike?" "Don't $&#* with me man" I said. I drove like Dukes of Hazzard back the way I came, including the wrong way down a one way street, to find my mangled bike on the offramp from the highway. Two guys were there already trying to load it up in their pickup. Not only did it shift and fall off but the one rope drug it about 200 feet. Now I use two ropes and a safety.
OOPS!!